Broccoli/cauliflower leaves suddenly turning yellow

plant-one-on-me(MI 5b)May 14, 2008

I have never grown broccoli or cauliflower before and have them in a brand new raised bed. They seemed to be doing just fine and had been transplanted 3 weeks ago. Today I went outside and the lowest 2-3 leaves have turned almost a golden yellow color. It happened overnight. I had 2 on the outermost edge of the bed not do well and slowly die over the past 3 weeks. Any ideas? I did add some epsom salts to the bed about a week ago...did I kill em? Any input will be helpful. Also over the past couple days we have gotten a lot of rain.

BTW, I don't know if it is broccoli or cauliflower or both since my permanent marker wore off before transplanting and I got them mixed up.

Before I forget: use pencil instead of so-called permanent markers, as most of those markers are only permanent indoors. Pencil can stand up to the acid test of fading: sunlight.

How large are your beds and how much epsom salts did you add?

What kind of soil do you have in your beds, local soil, imported soil, potting mix, etc?

Potassium (potash) can leach out of the soil quite easily. If you have access to some wood ashes, you might try working a quarter-cup or so (I'm guessing here, so try just a couple first) around each plant and work it in with an old dinner fork or something. You could also try kelp meal or or diluted fish emulsion (dilute more than instructions say for seedlings).

Apparently it is a normal process for the first two leaves to fall off of seedlings...mine turn yellow and begin drooping before they die off completely...leaving the rest of the leaves looking healthy. Is this what is happening?

when it does that , then its asign that it has started to set seed. sometime it could be that the temp has changed and its very hot forcing the brocolli to hurry up and produce the seeds before it give up to the heat.

The raised bed the plants are in is 30"x16'x12"deep. It is filled with a combination of topsoil (dh ordered 5 yds before asking me), peat moss and coarse vermiculite. I put 2 large handfuls of the Epsom salts into the beds. I water with diluted Miracle Grow. We have had a LOT of rain over the past 3 days and the bed is really wet. I am thinking it may be too wet but I am not sure how to ammend as I have radish planted around the broccoli and cauliflower and don't have any room to dig.

It is definetly not too hot with the temps in the high 40's at night and 60's during the day. I also learned after my marker incident to use pencil on old venetian blinds for plant markers.

We are supposed to get rain the rest of the week but I can cover the bed easily to let dry out a bit to see if it helps...think I will try that. Thanks for the information. Kim

I have two beds with broccoli. My larger 10" plants have leaves turning yellow...but my seedlings seem to be doing fine. All the beds get the same amount of watering.
Do you think the yellowing leaves of the larger plants are normal or should I try ash or some alternative nutrient?
They are all planted in a mixed soil of sand and good compost from donkey poo. So the soil retains moisture pretty good.

Mine are doing the same thing, they are in raised beds. Same thing with my cauliflower. I don't see any bugs. I fertilized well with liquid kelp and miracle grow just today. I hope this works. I'll let you know.